Mycroft's Secret
by ANGSWIN
Summary: Part 5 of my "Sherlock's Rose" series...Sherlock did not know that his brother, Mycroft, had actually met Rose Tyler first - and had become just as fascinated with her as he was!...


**Mycroft's Secret**

The first time Mycroft saw her was as he was leaving a boring governmental meeting. It had run very late, so he was extremely tired and hungry, and just wanted to get home. He walked over to the car where the driver opened the back door for him. He was about to slide in when a sound reached him, the most beautiful laughter that he had ever heard. Ignoring the waiting driver, he turned around to find the source of such a melodious sound. A young blonde, probably 20 years his junior, dressed casually in a blue leather jacket and jeans, walked down the sidewalk. She talked animatedly on her mobile and she laughed again. It was a musical sound - full of joy. Mycroft didn't find beauty in a lot of things, but he did in her laughter. He felt as if he could listen to it all day. She looked up as she walked by and found him watching her. Then he noticed that there was something about her. Somehow, she was more than she seemed, and he just could not stop looking. He did not even assess. He just looked. She gave him a little wink and then, suddenly, too quickly, she was past him. He watched her until she turned a corner and disappeared. He shook his head to clear the uncharacteristic fog in his mind, and climbed into the car – still hearing that laughter in his mind.

He did not find out who she was until the next time he saw her. This time it was _at_ a boring governmental meeting. It was the yearly get together of the top governmental and private organizations to provide and share antiterrorism measure reports in order to prevent events like Cybus Industries and the Cybermen from happening again. He entered the room at the last moment and he was greeted politely by those he passed. He was very well respected, but not liked well enough to be pulled into small talk, so he just made his way to the table, found his name plate and took his seat. He didn't notice her at first, until he heard that wonderful musical laughter again. His eyes swept up and down the large oval shaped boardroom table (that sat 30 people) searching for the source of that surprising sound. He found her sitting as far away from him as she could possibly be (they were almost at opposite ends of the oval) and she was talking with the man next to her. Judging from their posture and facial expressions, the man was trying desperately to impress her, but she was not interested in him, and was just being friendly in response. For some reason, that relieved Mycroft. Who was she, though? Why was she here? He craned his neck trying, as unobtrusively as possible, to see the name plate in front of her: Rose Tyler – Torchwood Institute. _Ah, the mysterious Torchwood_ , he thought. That organization was quite the thorn in his side, on occasion. Normally Pete Tyler, the director, was at these meetings, though. Rose must be his daughter. He peered at her as closely as he could from the distance and thought he noted a resemblance. He immediately decided that he would have to make an effort to speak with her during a break. Just as he made this resolution, the meeting started and, as usual, nobody said anything important. Therefore, Mycroft kept glancing surreptitiously over at Miss Tyler. He even accidently caught her eye once. Her sudden smile surprised him – mainly because it seemed genuine – and he had to tamp down the subconscious urge to immediately return it.

After a couple of hours, they all stopped to take a refreshment break and he tried to get up in a non-obvious effort to intercept her before she could leave the room or become waylaid by somebody else. He watched her walk over to grab a bottle of water from the refreshment table and he studied her. Gone were the casual street clothes from their first "meeting" and a conservative, but a very attractive form-fitting, amber colored suit (that brought out the liquid brown of her eyes) took their place. He took a deep breath and walked over under the pretense of getting a bottle of water, as well. To his surprise, she spoke first. She told him that she knew his secret. At first, he had a flash of concern. _Which secret was she talking about?_ Suddenly, he realized by the sparkle in her eye that she was joking – with him! – and then she said that she knew he had learned how to sleep with his eyes open just to get through these meetings! He actually laughed - something that was very rare for him, because it was close to the truth. He did tend to spend time in his mental library rather than listen during the nonsense parts of these meetings, sometimes. She smiled at him again, and then excused herself and left the room.

At first he was a bit worried. However, he then deduced that she was just taking a bathroom break, and not purposely trying to escape having a conversation with him. This idea was validated when the break was over and the participants were asked to move around the table and sit next to someone else, someone that they didn't know – for networking purposes and to build corporate relationships, supposedly. He was quite surprised and very pleased when she brought her name plate over and sat next to him. He spent the next few hours pleasantly aware of her knee brushing his and amused that she would occasionally lean over and whisper something absolutely ridiculous in his ear, just to keep him on his toes or so he wouldn't start snoring, she said. He fought back a smile every time! Normally, he did not have much use for casual chatting, but with her he found it to be quite pleasant. Lunch was brought in for them and he thoroughly enjoyed their half hour of uninterrupted conversation. He was also surprised to find her observation skills to be quite sharp, probably second only to his and Sherlock's, as they shared random observations about their fellow attendees. She even made him laugh at some of the more ridiculous ones. He was sorry when lunch was over and they had to finish up the last couple of hours without hardly any conversation at all. After the meeting was over, he listened, pleased, as she said that she was almost glad that her father was out of town and that she had to take his place at this meeting today. They said their goodbyes and made their ways to their separate cars. He contemplated that as boring as that meeting was, it turned out to be the most interesting one he had ever attended – all because of her. He looked forward to the next time that he would meet her. He even wondered if he should arrange something…

The third time he saw her was at a charity ball. He normally avoided the damn tedious things, but the President herself had invited him (and a plus one) personally. He easily decided against the plus one, thinking that he would just make an appearance and then escape as soon as possible. However, almost immediately upon entering the room he heard that unmistakable laugh again. His eyes searched the room for her and he actually smiled as he saw her dancing with her father. He wondered if they were here together or if she had come with someone else. He surprised himself by really hoping for the former. _Why should he care with whom she was attending?_ However, he then amazed himself again when he wondered if he should ask her for a dance. That was not something that he normally did. At this thought, however, the song ended, and she kissed her father on the cheek and they went their separate ways. She went to the bar and her father went to talk to a small group of people that included President Jones. His eyes followed her to the bar, even though he knew that he should start making his way around the room - if he was going to be able to escape early. She looked gorgeous, he thought, just like a goddess in her one-shouldered shimmering bronze gown. Her hair was up with escaping tendrils framing her face and he allowed himself a brief fantasy of loosening the rest of her hair and watching it tumble down to her shoulders… _What?_

He shook his head to dispel the thought just as Rose turned around with a glass of mineral water. She saw him and flashed that dazzling smile that had haunted his dreams since their last meeting. She greeted him warmly and he was gratified that she seemed genuinely pleased to see him. He then felt an unexpected wave of relief when she told him that she was attending with her father because her mother was unwell and could not make it. She seemed puzzled when she realized that he was there alone and immediately asked him to dance. This flustered him, but he found that he was extremely willing to dance with her. As he pulled her into his arms, he felt something unfamiliar - something _warm_ that flowed through him! The feel of her body pressed against his was intoxicating and he knew that he would dream about it. This whole experience was something new and exciting for him. After two dances with her, he was surprised to find that, besides their physical contact, he was also actually enjoying their conversation - even more than he had at that terribly boring meeting weeks ago. He found her company to be so much more stimulating than the average "goldfish" that he was used to.

He was just debating with himself whether he should invite her out for dinner one night, any night, every night - when her father suddenly returned. He apologized for intruding and then spoke quietly in his daughter's ear. Mycroft heard the word "emergency" and watched as her body tensed and her pleasant, relaxed expression turned hard. He accepted her quiet apology about a problem at work and was stunned to receive a goodbye kiss on the cheek, as well. That simple action sent a thrill through him and he watched regretfully as she walked away – her graceful dancer's movements turned more into a soldier's step by the time she left the dance floor, he thought. _Interesting_ …he suddenly found himself wondering for the first time what her actual role at Torchwood was. At any rate, he had finally realized that Rose Tyler fascinated him more than any woman that he had ever met and he could not wait to see her again! He firmly decided that he would definitely take the next step and ask her out for a more personal evening next time!

Unfortunately, the next time that he saw her again was several weeks later on the CCTV footage of Baker Street. He had just been notified that his brother had an unknown female visitor and that they had left the flat together. Due to Sherlock's unfortunate history with The Woman, Mycroft decided to look into the matter himself. Therefore, he was shocked to find himself watching a video of his brother walking hand-in-hand with none other than Rose Tyler – of all people! Mycroft observed the two as they stopped to talk. The conversation seemed to be extremely intense for a moment, but then she turned away to catch a cab. _Thank goodness she was leaving!_ the elder Holmes brother thought with relief. However, then she unexpectedly turned back and kissed his brother. Mycroft was stunned by this development. Rose had kissed Sherlock! Why him? Mycroft found that he could see nothing but red as he forcefully slammed down the screen of his laptop! He then grabbed his phone and sent his brother a text:

 _Who is she?_  
 _-M_

Mycroft knew very well who she was, but he wanted to know if Sherlock would lie. However, of course his brother just ignored the text and didn't bother to answer it at all. Therefore, Mycroft was left on his own to regret not furthering his tentative relationship with Rose when he had the chance.

However, the next time he saw them on the CCTV was even worse! That night he saw the two of them enter the flat holding hands, and Rose did not leave until the next morning. As she exited the flat, Mycroft could not help but to notice that she was even wearing Sherlock's shirt. It was the burgundy one that Mycroft had personally picked out and had given to him for Christmas. She had spent the night with Sherlock! The thought of her, his Rose, in his brother's arms and in his bed, left Mycroft in something close to despair.

The third time he watched them on the video feed, they left Baker Street holding hands again and smiling. This time it was evident that Sherlock had spent the night with her, since he did not return until the following day. When he did arrive back to the flat, he wearing that same burgundy shirt that Rose had previously worn! After that incident, Mycroft decided to stop monitoring the Baker Street feed himself. He had people to do that kind of thing for him. They would let him know if anything important happened. He just could not bear it anymore.

Mycroft really did not know what else to do. Out of all the women in this city or even in the country, Sherlock had taken the only one who had ever interested him, ever captivated him. Rose was the only one that he had ever wanted for himself. However, somehow, Sherlock had managed to reach out to her first!

Mycroft did not blame Rose, however. He knew that she had been nothing but friendly, pleasant, and open with him. This was his own fault. He put himself in this position. This was exactly why he did not believe in sentiment. Emotions made you weak. They were the grit in the lens of the sensitive instrument. He had allowed himself a momentary weakness, but it would not happen again. Despite this resolution, however, he secretly admitted to himself that Rose Tyler would always eclipse every other member of her sex in his eyes. He just had to make sure that Sherlock never found out...

He then steeled himself against the sound of the musical laughter and the sight of that dazzling smile that continued to play in his head. He also forced himself to push down the faint secret hope that his brother would prove to be just a passing fancy for her. After all, Sherlock was bound to mess it up. He did not know how to have a relationship. Maybe then… Mycroft just shook his head to dispel these thoughts and turned his attention back to the running of the British government from behind the scenes. Everything else would have to wait - for now!


End file.
